Uggs Maker Hit With Antitrust Claim for ‘Sham’ Trade Dress Suits

The maker of Uggs footwear “operates a legal assembly line” that pumps out spurious “sham” trade dress lawsuits to protect market share, an affordable-luxury brand’s new antitrust lawsuit says.

Deckers Outdoor Corp. has regurgitated infringement claims for more than a decade to leverage settlements despite rulings that found Uggs trade dress is unprotectable, Quince told the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

The complaint filed Friday by Last Brand Inc., Quince’s corporate name, said the hundreds of lawsuits are designed to reach expensive discovery by relying on the fact-intensive nature of proving trade dress—the look and feel ...